November 1st As the temperature begins to drop and the leaves begin to fall, there are a few things American medical students look forward to…
The holiday isle in Walgreens is decked with holly in preparation for Christmas.
Early morning training sessions for the annual Turkey Bowl officially begin.
And my personal favorite, the long awaited transition to the infamous holiday cups at Starbucks.
While other first year MSIH students and myself may have initially felt a few symptoms of withdrawal, I think it is safe to say we are adapting to life here in Israel.
Although I do not celebrate Christmas, my family is all too familiar with my adoration for a good Christmas tune. I am looking forward to continuing this tradition, even without the constant holiday music streaming from my car radio. Surprisingly Turkey Bowl fanatics are more relentless than Cubs fan! The date and location are to be announced (hopefully not on the “basketball court”- since nice grassy fields are a bit difficult to locate in a desert), but GAME ON. And after two and a half months of class on the 6th floor of Soroka Hospital, the men in Coffee Time finally know our orders. Even though it is no Starbucks, the friendly morning meet-and-greet cannot be beat.
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| photo courtesy of Nathan Douthit |
While the month of November has many wonderful things to look forward to, we are after all medical students, and the weight of that statement is becoming increasingly more apparent. My classmates and I were politely reminded of this fact as we received the weekly schedule update last Thursday. In the next month my classmates and I will conquer a bacteriology lab report, weekly genetics assignments, a literature review, yet another famous immunology quiz, a bacteriology exam all while preparing for our five final exams that begin at the end of this month. If it seems like we should be overwhelmed, we are! And how will we survive this tumultuous month of never-ending studying? One day at a time, with our Coffee Time cup in hand, holiday music oozing from our headphones while dreaming of who will score the winning touchdown at the Turkey Bowl…well, at least that is how I plan on making it through. - blogger of the month Jamie Klein